The former student leader, Anthony Albanese wins Australia’s election after Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded defeat. While the votes were still being tallied, Australia’s Labor party leader claimed victory, ending nearly a decade of conservative rule.
“The people of Australia voted for change”. Labor leader Anthony Albanese told supporters in Sydney on Saturday that he was humbled by the triumph after guiding his party to victory after nine years in opposition.
“I believe that people have had enough of divisiveness, and what they want is for us to come together as a nation,” Albanese said earlier in the day.
According to preliminary results, Labor has won 72 seats, four seats shy of a majority in the 151-member lower house of parliament.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s centre-right coalition has so far gained 51 seats. Even though vote counting was still underway late Saturday, Morrison acknowledged defeat.
Australia’s first Labor government in nearly a decade has been elected, with Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister, displacing Scott Morrison’s coalition.
Australians have “voted for change,” Mr Albanese told ecstatic supporters. However, it is unclear whether he will be able to gain a majority.
The centrist leader promised to unite people, invest in social services, and “stop the climate conflicts.”
After conceding, Mr Morrison acknowledged the “miracle of the Australian people.”
Mr. Albanese, 59, began by thanking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and reaffirmed his intention to hold a referendum on an Indigenous advisory body called Voice to Parliament during his three-year term.
He continued by describing himself as the “son of a single mother who was a disability pensioner, who grew up in public housing.”
He also thanked Prime Minister Morrison for his service, noting that he had “quite generously wished me well.”
Mr. Albanese was a former student leader who had joined the Labour Party straight after graduation and spent most of his professional career in working with the party before entering politics himself.
The news on Albanese wins Australia’s election is a relief for many pro-Labour supporters in Australia and around the world.
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